


Elledritch Horror

by SummersSixEcho



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Birthday, Dani explores the world in a different way, DannyMay (Danny Phantom), Drabble, Gen, Horror, Original Character(s), Overshadowing, Possession, whatever that means
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:47:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24249022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummersSixEcho/pseuds/SummersSixEcho
Summary: A mother finds something strange about her daughter. If that's her daughter at all...
Comments: 7
Kudos: 46





	Elledritch Horror

**Author's Note:**

> A drabble for DannyMay. Prompt: Horror (Day 18) though it also kinda fits Childhood (Day 17)

_ "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Emily, happy birthday to you!” _

The girl’s green eyes shone bright with the light of the twelve candles as she blew them in a single puff. Everyone surrounding her clapped and cheered enthusiastically. Her smile spread wide as her loving father snapped a picture with his professional camera, some other guests using their own phones to record or take an image to remember the wonderful  occasion as well .

The image froze on the girl’s face, her eyes casting an eerie green light as one of the phone’s flash went off. Something was wrong with her daughter, Marianne decided. She couldn’t shake the feeling of dread as she watched that day’s footage alone at night in the home’s studio for the eleventh time. 

The lights in the room were off, mostly since she hadn’t intended on staying there for long. What started as a quick glance to her computer, only to check if all the photos had backed up completely to their cloud storage, ended in a desperate search for answers. She had only meant to see Emily’s huge smile as she blew her candles, but instead had found an odd glimmer in her eyes. It wasn’t just in that video. The confused mother had gone through the family chat to check other clips and pictures of the same moment. Every single one of them revealed the same green flicker in her already green eyes.

Emily’s eyes had always been blue.

Marianne went through a quick online search on “why do eyes glow in pictures” and found a multitude of answers for red eyes in pictures with flash, leukocoria, and dozens of other diseases or explanations. While she began to fear for her oldest child’s health, none of the pictures included were remotely close to what she had witnessed in the various images or videos. She tried to be more specific, excluding certain unrelated terms, but she wasn’t so sure the new results were any better. Ghost hunters? Possession? Exorcisms? She felt ridiculous just looking at some of the related images, most from some town called Amity Park where they probably photoshopped things for tourist attractions or something.

The woman decided she was probably too tired if she was even considering this kind of possibility. Her curiosity took her, just for kicks, to a page listing how to detect a ghostly possession. Was there a difference from demon possession? What kind of b-horror movie was this supposed to be?

“Glowing eyes, voice changes, mood swings, strange behavior, temperature drop... oh,  _ please _ ,” she chuckled lightly to herself, and was thankful for at least having something to help her unwind from the tension she had  built up a few minutes before.

“Baby, you coming to bed?” a masculine voice caught her attention, her husband standing by the doorframe already in his pajamas.

This was getting her nowhere, she realized as she closed the tabs she had opened and put the computer on sleep mode. It would be better to check her daughter’s eyes in the morning and maybe take her to the optometrist or something, if needed. “Yeah, sorry, hon. Are the kids already asleep?”

The man nodded with an exaggerated gesture of relief. “Remind me not to start the next parties so late.”

Marianne giggled and walked towards the hall. “Let me just give them another good night kiss,” she announced, deciding she would check on Emily first just to feel more at ease.

The door adorned with unicorns and stars creaked slightly as the young mother stepped into the dark bedroom. The moon bathed the interior gently with its light through the large window, making most of the bulkiest pieces of furniture visible. A figure rested peacefully on the bed, her chest rising rhythmically with a low snore. In any other circumstances, the scene could be considered ordinary, even. Except for a tiny little detail. Emily rarely hugged any of her toys, least of all her stuffed animals since they made her sneeze if she held them too close.

It felt ridiculous, but somehow the woman’s skin broke into goosebumps as she tried to feel her daughter’s forehead, looking for any sign of a fever. Even stranger than that was the fact that the girl’s skin felt too cold to the touch. There was  _ no way _ she was even considering it. Ghosts didn’t exist. And if they did, it didn’t make any sense, seeing how they had been living in that same house without incident for over a decade.

The girl’s eyes shot up wide open, a bright green glow lighting up her face. Marianne’s hand recoiled immediately, making her fall backwards as she lost her balance. A scream died in her throat and came out as a surprised yelp. ‘Emily’ blinked, her glimmer diminishing as she focused on her mother. “Oh, uh... hi, mom,” the girl spoke quietly and sat up on her bed. “Is... everything okay?”

Despite the warm smile on the girl’s face, Marianne was no longer sure she was talking with her daughter. There was something  _ off _ about her voice, the eyes, the chill... the  _ glowing _ green eyes! What was going on? An indescribable horror filled the woman’s senses, freezing her on the spot. The more she stared at the no-longer-glowing figure in front of her, the more she noticed everything wrong in the picture. The way she was sitting, how she held her head, how her hands moved... An uncanny valley version of her child. “E-E-Emily?”

“Uh, yeah?” the girl asked with a sugary smile, her head turning slightly to the side.

“You’re holding Mr. Butters close,” the woman replied absentmindedly, focusing instead on the small toy.

'Emily’ looked confused and then stared at the small plush animal in her arms. “Am I... not supposed to?” she innocently asked. Even the wording was wrong somehow... the sound... inflection of her voice...

“You’re not sneezing,” the mother supplied as a partial answer.

Realization seemed to dawn on the girl, since she began to deflate. Her eyes were lowered as her shoulders sagged. A sad sigh escaped her lips along with a visible puff of air, making the woman aware of the temperature drop. An eerie voice spoke from Emily’s mouth. “I just wanted to have a regular  birthday, you know? Feel like a regular kid, every once in a while.”

It was a girl, Marianne recognized despite the slight echo and static in its sound. There had to be an explanation. Something logical and mundane. Maybe her family was trying to pull her leg. There was no way her daughter could be possessed.

Except that nothing else made sense.

Maternal instincts kicking in, she suddenly realized the real Emily could be in danger of... whatever that thing was. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “W-w-who are y-you?” she managed to ask, hating herself for not being able to sound stronger.

Vivid radioactive eyes looked up and stared at her, piercing right through Marianne. “Name’s  Elle ,” the otherworldly voice said. “Sorry for hi-jacking her birthday. Guess I’ll find somewhere else to crash for the night.”

Before the woman could make sense of her words, the glow faded completely from Emily’s eyes. The girl sat with a dazed look on her barely visible face. She scrunched up her nose and suddenly sneezed loudly, her confusion growing as she released Mr. Butters from her grip. “Mom? What’s going on?” a more familiar voice spoke.

The young mother would then spend the rest of the night trying to convince her husband she wasn’t going crazy and relating everything that had happened. The birthday footage and Emily’s lack of memories convinced him of at least calling a priest to clean their house from evil spirits. The sleepless nights that followed would later lead the family to move from the “haunted” house, just in case.

Sometime later, elsewhere, an ecstatic girl would start opening her Christmas presents. Or at least the gifts intended for the host she was inhabiting. Realizing there was nowhere an eternal twelve-year-old could live to her fullest, Elle (as she had decided to call herself instead of ‘Dani’) had opted for  _ borrowing _ experiences. Birthday parties, holidays, vacations, summer camp, school graduations, family game nights... all those things she wouldn’t be able to have in her own life. The attention of parents or friends. The protection of a home. The nourishment she needed on top of the love she craved for. So, what if it meant haunting several families along the way?  So what if a few discovered in horror the truth? As she found out while being denied an identity of her own, or a family, or a normal life, there were bigger horrors in the world.


End file.
